The Real Story of Last Nights Game: Hint.... Its not about Big Ben

[Bayz101]

Originally Posted by Fire Arians

If you turn the ball over 4 times you ain't gonna beat anybody

One of those was a Hail Mary and the other was after the game had already been decided.

[dcsteel5804]

Look, I understand that Ben played bad. I understand that he probably should have been benched. I understand he turned it over 4 times. In all, it was too much for the defense to overcome. My point is that WE ALL KNEW BEN WAS GONNA BE BAD. Everyone in the stadium knew that if we were gonna win, the defense would have to do something special, and the bottom line is that they didn't. They allowed SF to convert on nearly 60% of third downs. How can you overlook that?! They got no sacks!! Baltimore got 9! How can you over look that?! They got no turnovers. They allowed San Fran to convert 3rd and longs. They played 10 yards off the receivers all night.

I believe we could have come closer to winning if our D would have shown up big but again, they didnt. They weren't bad or horrible, they just weren't exceptional, and they had to be.

[SteelCurtainCall]

This is my first post, but I've been a Steeler fan since the late 60's. I've lived and died with them, and always will. We rose to prominence in the 70's with a combonation of killer defense, and finally getting some great O players. Since then , we have been enjoying what is usually a great D, year after year. We've seen some O situations kind of come and go, but the D has, for the most part; done it's job well.

I can't understand how we can't solve our O line problems, and get the blocking schemes down to kick our running game back into gear. I know Ben is a unique QB to block for, and it's not easy to do so, but the designed running play blocking is awful too. We had total control of the 2nd Ravens game, and couldn't even come up with a first down to close them out? That's not the Steelers I've followed all these years.

Yes Ben makes mistakes, and they chap my butt when they come out of nowhere, but my biggest concern is that our D is just not what we've all grown accustom to. That 92 yard Raven drive hit me square between the eyes. Like mentioned in this thread already; the D played 10 yards off the receivers, and still Holt got behind Gay for the winning score. The only way the birds could win was with a TD, and the Steelers gave it up. That was the lowest point for me this year with our D. I also have seen here were some say Ben is holding us back,ect. Remember, it was the D that let Fitzgerald loose for what looked to be the winning SB score, until Ben drove them right at 90 yards down the field to win with the toss to Holmes.

Ben is an elite QB in my opinion, but we're just facing some challenges in several different areas. The team is getting older(some of the key players), and they are getting injured more often than before. I've seen some bad lapses at safety this year, and Troy has always come thru before; we're just used to stellar play every year, and we may be coming to a crossroads here. I'm like you all; I bleed black and gold, and I'm going to continue to believe. I look forward to interacting with you all.
John Sr.

[StainlessStill]

We did blitz. We did try to run our famous A gap, Cross-X'ing stunts. Thing is, the 49'ers picked it all up and had a flawless, west-coast attack on us while we played on our toes the entire night. The 9'ers had balance and it showed big time. Totally threw us off our game, especially on third downs (and it was STILL a tight ball game for the majority.)

They picked up our blitzing schemes and counter-acted it with a short, quick underneath game that worked endlessly against our soft-zones and 12 yard cushions. It's very hard to create pressure and dial up blitzes when the QB is getting rid of the ball as soon as our blitzers reach the line of scrimmage. Credit San Fran, they out played, out witted and certainly out coached us. We just got our ASS kicked!

[stb_steeler]

You could see the patience in the 9ers play......Steelers looked like they had to hurry up and go for the long ball all night.

[TRH]

Originally Posted by StainlessStill

We did blitz. We did try to run our famous A gap, Cross-X'ing stunts. Thing is, the 49'ers picked it all up and had a flawless, west-coast attack on us while we played on our toes the entire night. The 9'ers had balance and it showed big time. Totally threw us off our game, especially on third downs (and it was STILL a tight ball game for the majority.)

They picked up our blitzing schemes and counter-acted it with a short, quick underneath game that worked endlessly against our soft-zones and 12 yard cushions. It's very hard to create pressure and dial up blitzes when the QB is getting rid of the ball as soon as our blitzers reach the line of scrimmage. Credit San Fran, they out played, out witted and certainly out coached us. We just got our ASS kicked!

Exactly.
Another thing we don't do and i don't understand is quick snap counts like Brady does.
Everybody screams for the 'no-huddle' but we don't make it count. Even when we do it....Ben just stands back there and the play count winds down 4, 3, 2 1, SNAP....why the hell do we even do the no-huddle then? you might as well not even do it.
Do a no-huddle, then do a quick snap. But nooooooooooooooooooo....
We just stand there and let them all get settled and have their best look at our offense lining up.
It completely makes ZERO sense.

[plenewken]

Originally Posted by TRH

Exactly.
Another thing we don't do and i don't understand is quick snap counts like Brady does.
Everybody screams for the 'no-huddle' but we don't make it count. Even when we do it....Ben just stands back there and the play count winds down 4, 3, 2 1, SNAP....why the hell do we even do the no-huddle then? you might as well not even do it.
Do a no-huddle, then do a quick snap. But nooooooooooooooooooo....
We just stand there and let them all get settled and have their best look at our offense lining up.
It completely makes ZERO sense.

Very true. I don't get this no-huddle with normal count crap either.

[FanSince72]

Originally Posted by TRH

Exactly.
Another thing we don't do and i don't understand is quick snap counts like Brady does.
Everybody screams for the 'no-huddle' but we don't make it count. Even when we do it....Ben just stands back there and the play count winds down 4, 3, 2 1, SNAP....why the hell do we even do the no-huddle then? you might as well not even do it.
Do a no-huddle, then do a quick snap. But nooooooooooooooooooo....
We just stand there and let them all get settled and have their best look at our offense lining up.
It completely makes ZERO sense.

Oh man! You just read my mind!

I was thinking that while I was watching the game.
I thought that SF doesn't have to anticipate a snap count, all they have to do is watch the play clock and start moving at 2 or 1.

But I think a lot of that has to do with "who" Ben is.

He's not a chess player and doesn't seem too interested in things like deceptions and clever use of snap counts and other such things.
Like his overall build, Ben is all about physicality and simply being better than someone else and that's his mindset.

I don't think he really cares about cleverness when brute force or skill or sheer willpower can work and that's how he sees it.
If that's true, then we're stuck with it because that's something he's learned and it's what got him here and it's too late to change him now.

[Kanata-Steeler]

Originally Posted by dcsteel5804

The Steelers lost last night, 20 -3. So that means Big Ben must have really stunk it up out there, right? Well, that's ABSOLUTELY true. He through 3 interceptions and fumbled once.

WRONG, it amounted to 4 TURNOVERS, count them bud, 4 TUROVERS, by BEN.

I don't know what it would take to teach this guy to throw the ball away. Even with a high ankle sprain and extremely limited mobility, the guy was holding the ball to long in certain situations.
ummmm DUYHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, in my humble opinion, that was not the real story of the game. We all knew that Ben was hurt and wasn't going to play very well. We knew he'd be limited in what he would be able to do. The real story to me was the defense. Coming into the game, they must not have gotten the memo that there was a good chance they'd have to play a spectacular game to help this team pull one out. Too bad, because this was definitely a winnable game

After the first interception thrown, The 49ers had the ball at around their own 30 yard line. Well to me, that's like decent kick off return starting field position. and we let them go on down and score a field goal. Probably should have been a touchdown if Alex Smith had any real skill. Basically the same sequence of events happened on the drive for both teams.

Now giving up only 6 points after two turnovers doesn't sound that bad right?? WRONG!! Because its the way they gave the 49ers yardage. They were not letting them run too well, but dang it if they weren't 10 yards of the receivers on obvious passing downs. They allowed them to convert third down throw after third down throw. Not to mention there was ABSOLUTELY NO PRESSURE ON ALEX SMITH THE ENTIRE GAME. I mean, CSI wouldn't have been able to prove he had been in a football game last night, he was untoched by an Steelers all night and didn't hit the ground but maybe twice. Compare that with how we played against the Patriots and it makes you sick. We have the talent on this team to cover New England and its receivers and tightends, but not San Frans??? Give me a break!!

To win the game, the defense would have had to play lights out, create some turnovers, create some pressure and they just didn't, and that really makes me sick in my stomach. Where was the blitz, where was the press coverage. You don't create turnovers by not pressuring a guy. But I guess we should not question the genius that is Lebeau.... Well I WILL. Why does this guy pick certain games to just shrivle his little baby nuts up into its shell and play scared. Similar to the game against freakin Tyler Palko, where we almost lost to the Chiefs because we let that bum sit back there and throw passes to open guys.

I dont know, maybe you guys saw something different, but that defensive performance sucked. I know the offense was bad, but we knew it would be bad. They scored most of their points of turnovers, we had no turnovers and never gave our offense a short field. We started inside the 20 on 90 percent of our drives, with a gimp at QB, not a formula for success. The defense needed to hand the offense points on a silver platter, and they just didnt. More thoughts to come later, but let me know what you guys think, thanks.

Sir, you are either an trolling instigator, or just out of your mind. !!!
Ben himsself said "...I was the best player for the 49'ers..."
nuff said.
....
I love Ben, but why do you ppl, consistently try to imagine anything remotely different about last NITE ! ?
It's boggling to say the least.
Ben should NOT have even played, we played him and it was an UTTER-Catastrophic gamble.
you wanna blame the DEFENSE. ???!!!

NO TEAM really SURVIVES 4 TURNOVERS by an offense (and yes they were ALL on BEN).
Don't blame the DEFENSE. Blame our idiotic Coach and senile Rooney for gambling with their severely INJURED Franchise investment.
-case closed already.
You guys need glasses when you watch these games .
omfg !

Get OVER it !
Lets get goin' on the next games, which we NEED to win straight out.
The only"Real story" here, is that this thread is UNREAL and suitable for IGNORING !
end of story.

[OX1947]

Ben will need to learn to throw the ball away. For his health and the health of his team. Ben can win staying in the pocket, he isnt tebow. This is where Tomlin needs to stop with the eliquent quotes and sit his guy down and coach him. Enough is enough.